History of the Typewriter

— 97 — CHAPTER IVb Machines with Carriage at Rear. IN the present section we deal with machines in which the carriage is placed at the rear and the types, which either rest normally in a perpendicular row between the keys and the platen, and strike down on to the top of the latter, or are placed in an horizontal plane and strike the front of the platen, leaving an impression in full sight of the operator. The first machine to perform its work in this manner— at any rate, so far as the British Isles are concerned—was the Bar-Lock. The conveniences afforded by visible writing are claimed to be many and various. Calculations of an interesting nature have from time to time been made of the total loss of time which arises in the course of a day’s work through the operator having to lift the carriage to observe the progress he is making with his work. The result is that it is asserted visible writing will not only add very considerably to the facility with which a given piece of work may be executed, but the fact of each character being in full sight of the typist the moment it is conveyed to paper will enable the operator to perceive and correct any error immediately it is made, and the feeling of security which is thus afforded will also tend to greater speed. I Group I.—Downstroke. The Bar-Lock. The Bar-Lock typewriter was the invention of Mr. Charles Spiro, of New York, who, before the machine under notice was placed upon the market, had invented another little instrument called the Columbia,^with which we shall deal in due course. The*company formed to exploit this machine was called the Columbia Typewriter Manufacturing Company, and when the Bar-Lock was made, it also bore the name of that organization. 7